A 12-year-old Beeton girl who relies on fundraising to stay on a life-saving cystic fibrosis drug got hope — but not a promise — from Premier Kathleen Wynne on Monday.

Wynne and Health Minister Deb Matthews vowed to press harder to get a provincial drug-buying consortium to negotiate a “fair” price for Kalydeco and challenged its U.S. manufacturer to “step up.”

Vertex Pharmaceuticals has rejected three offers, Matthews said after she and the premier met with young Madi Vanstone and her mother, Beth.

“We want to fund this drug,” Wynne told the legislature under questioning from Progressive Conservatives who accused the minority Liberal government of holding out to save money.

Negotiations for Kalydeco, which is covered by 15 other countries including the United States and England, have been bogged down for 14 months between Vertex and the consortium that negotiates bulk drug prices for the provinces.

Vanstone’s family relies on public fundraising to pay for Kalydeco, which was approved by Health Canada in late 2012, costs $300,000 a year per person and works only for a certain genetic variant of cystic fibrosis. It’s estimated about 20 people in Ontario need it but do not have private coverage.

“I wish my community and friends didn’t have to do it . . . if the government would cover it,” Madi told a news conference with two Progressive Conservative MPPs.

“I’m not sick anymore because of Kalydeco . . . this improves my life significantly,” said the well-spoken girl, who used to run out of breath walking up the stairs before taking the drug and lost a lot of school time to illness and hospital stays.

She has gained 15 pounds since she began taking Kalydeco seven months ago, more weight than she put on in the previous two years.

The focus on Kalydeco raises the question of public funding for other so-called “orphan drugs” for rare diseases, such as Esbriet for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis and Soliris for atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

The provincial consortium is now negotiating for 11 orphan drugs and has saved $50 million on the 32 drugs it has negotiated so far.

“We all want this drug to be available to people like Madi but we need to get the best price so we can fund more drugs for more people,” Matthews said, noting she expects “wholesale” prices.

MPP Christine Elliott, the Conservative health critic, promised that a Tory government would fund orphan drugs.

“We have to be able to find the money to pay for it” by restructuring the health-care system, she told reporters.

Beth Vanstone said she feels successful at increasing the pressure on Wynne but took the premier’s answers as “a little bit of spin” given the province has said previously it wants to fund the drug.

Neither the government nor Vertex would reveal how far apart they are on price.

“During the course of these discussions, multiple different proposals have been provided by both Vertex and also the government,” Vertex spokesman Zach Barber said in an email.

“While we have not yet reached an agreement, we remain hopeful that Kalydeco will be publicly reimbursed across Canada . . . so that eligible people with CF can receive this medicine as soon as possible.”

Conservative MPP Jim Wilson, a former health minister, questioned “how this government can put a price on a young person’s quality of life?”

He also accused Wynne of “hiding behind” the provincial drug buying alliance.

In the meantime, the next fundraiser for Vanstone is set for March 17.

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